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Winner of seven Academy Awards including Best
Picture, Director, and Screenplay, this critical and box-office hit from 1973 provided a
perfect reunion for director George Roy Hill and stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who
previously delighted audiences with Butch Cassidy
and the Sundance Kid. Set in 1936, the movie's about a pair of Chicago con artists
(Newman and Redford) who find themselves in a high-stakes game against the master of all
cheating mobsters (Robert Shaw) when they set out to avenge the murder of a mutual friend
and partner [Robert Earl Jones]. Using a bogus bookie joint as a front for their con of
all cons, the two feel the heat from the Chicago Mob on one side and encroaching police on
the other. But in a plot that contains more twists than a treacherous mountain road, the
ultimate scam is pulled off with consummate style and panache. It's an added bonus that
Newman and Redford were box-office kings at the top of their game, and while Shaw broods
intensely as the Runyonesque villain, The Sting
is further blessed by a host of great supporting players including Dana Elcar, Eileen
Brennan, Ray Walston, Charles Durning, and Harold Gould. Thanks to the flavorful music
score by Marvin Hamlisch, this was also the movie that sparked a nationwide revival of
Scott Joplin's ragtime jazz, which is featured prominently on the soundtrack.
One of the most entertaining movies of the early 1970s, The Sting is a welcome
throwback to Hollywood's golden age of the '30s that hasn't lost any of its popular charm.
--Jeff Shannon, Amazon
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| Paul Newman |
.... |
Henry Gondorff |
| Robert Redford |
.... |
Johnny Hooker |
| Robert Shaw |
.... |
Doyle Lonnegan |
| Charles Durning |
.... |
Lieutenant William Snyder |
| Ray Walston |
.... |
J.J. Singleton |
| Eileen Brennan |
.... |
Billie |
| Harold Gould |
.... |
Kid Twist |
| John Heffernan |
.... |
Eddie Niles |
| Dana Elcar |
.... |
F.B.I. Agent Polk |
| Jack Kehoe |
.... |
Erie Kid |
| Dimitra Arliss |
.... |
Loretta |
| Robert Earl Jones |
.... |
Luther Coleman |
| James Sloyan |
.... |
Mottola |
| Charles Dierkop |
.... |
Floyd (Bodyguard) |
| Lee Paul (I) |
.... |
Bodyguard |
Academy Awards for The Sting:
Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
Henry Bumstead
James Payne (I) |
Best Costume Design
Edith Head |
Best Director
George Roy Hill |
Best Film Editing
William Reynolds (II) |
Best Music, Scoring Original Song
Score and/or Adaptation
Marvin Hamlisch |
Best Picture
Tony Bill
Julia Phillips
Michael Phillips (II) |
Best Writing, Story and Screenplay
Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced
David S. Ward |
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